The subject matter disclosed herein relates to valves. More specifically, the subject matter disclosed herein relates to control of flow through fuel delivery valves for combustors.
Engines, for example, gas turbines include combustors at which a fuel, typically a liquid, is injected into a combustion zone and combusted with air to drive a turbine. To provide fuel flow to the combustion zone, a centralized fuel distribution system is typically utilized to distribute fuel to a plurality of fuel nozzles arrayed around the combustor. The fuel is injected into the combustion zone by the nozzles. The centralized distribution system includes shutoff and metering capabilities to meter or to stop fuel flow to either all of the nozzles or specific groups of fuel nozzles, such as primary and/or secondary groups of fuel nozzles.
An ever increasing demand is being placed on achieving higher degrees of operating efficiency of the engines, as well as an increasing demand to tune acoustic signatures, reduce emissions and reduce thermal signatures of the engines. It is becoming increasingly difficult to meet these objectives with the present fuel flow management and distribution schemes in the combustor.